There exists today a wide range of exercise devices for providing resistance training of various muscles. While many exercise machines may help develop overall physical fitness in general, it is often a goal of many exercisers to use exercise machines to improve strength and fitness for a particular sport.
Golf, one of the most popular sports today, enjoys its popularity in part to its appeal to a wide range of people in different age groups and of varying levels of fitness. However, many golfers have found that improving musculo-skeletal strength, flexibility and endurance is beneficial in improving consistency and accuracy as well as distance when hitting a golf ball. For golfers, exercises which specifically target the muscles utilized during a golf swing are of particular benefit.
Existing golf-related training devices are often targeted towards improving only certain skills, such as eye-hand coordination, improving grip, or restraining the golf swing to a correct swing path. A device which offers some resistance during an exercise emulating a golf swing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,013, however, the resistance provided is limited to the duration of the downswing; no resistance is provided during the backswing. Further, the device is bulky and requires a support base which must be wedged under a closed door to secure same during use.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for efficiently and effectively exercising the pertinent muscles used, e.g., to increase power to a golfer's swing, in a convenient manner that overcomes the limitations of the prior art.